Groundbreaking Norwegian Audit Finds Loans to Developing Countries Don’t Follow New Responsible Lending Standards

“Although the solvency of many countries, such as Brazil, is improving, the debt burden is hampering development in some poor countries. These countries are having difficulty servicing old debt agreements made on unfavourable terms. We now want to address this,” said Norway's Minister of International Development Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås (pictured above).

On August 15, 2013, Norway became the first lending country to audit the loans it made to developing countries. The consultant firm Deloitte assessed whether past Norwegian loans to governments, including repressive regimes in Egypt and Indonesia, were compliant with current principles of responsible lending and borrowing developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

"Norway is leading by example and is serious about addressing the debt crisis," said Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA's Executive Director who was part of the UN expert group that designed the principles of responsible lending and borrowing. "Every G20 country needs to follow Norway's example."

Deloitte's audit found that Norway complied with older standards at the time of loan contraction but that many of the loans do not meet UNCTAD's current principles of responsible lending and borrowing. Reports compiled by Jubilee USA's Norwegian counterpart, SLUG, investigated Norway's loans to Indonesia, Egypt and Myanmar. 

"We hope the Norwegian government will take the next step of this critical audit and cancel illegitimate debt such as the debts of Egypt and Indonesia," stated Gina Ekholt, Director of the Norwegian Coalition for Debt Cancellation (SLUG).

Read Norway's audit here.
Read the UNCTAD principles here.
Read Jubilee USA's Report on Responsible Lending and Borrowing here.